Clark Gable 2007-06-29
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Martin Amis's Money flies in the face of the nostalgic critic who would say that the best of British fiction is in the past. This meta-fictional post modern styled novel not only subverts conventional novel structures but is also able at the same time to present social messages which were relevant to its initial 1980's audience and can still find relevance in the society of readers today.
Broadly, Amis's novel satirizes the boom of consumerism and excess experienced in the 1980's. The central protagonist would-be-film maker John Self, rolls between London and New York, binging on cigarettes, alcohol, pornography, women, drugs and anything else that money can buy. John Self's complete lack of self control or restraint can be seen as reflective of the political policies of Thatcher (and to an extent Regan) which were being implemented in England and America at this time, policies which assigned a fiscal value to everything and turned virtually anything into a saleable commodity, promoting capitalist values en masse with very little attention to the development of accompanying policies of social responsibility.
Without revealing too much of the plot, Self eventually reaps the consequences of his lifestyle however it is not a social or moral lesson, Self does not develop, grow or undergo any kind of mental or emotional transformation, in moral essentials he leaves the novel, much as he entered it. This lack of moral justice inflicted upon Self is arguably one of the major centres of dislike pitted against this novel. Amis does not provide a social or (using the words of his father, realist author Kinglsey Amis) "human lesson." It presents the seamy, grimy underside of the epicentres of western (and capitalist) society but presents no exoneration or punishment for John Self or the societies which he populates. The frustration of the reader in not seeing the protagonist regretful or even adequately reflective of his lifestyle seems to deny a perceived need of the novel to distribute and/or advocate for some kind of social justice or responsibility.
Some critics (and even authors) of contemporary British literature suffer the belief that the 'hey-day' of English literature is passed, that nothing written in the present can possibly match that which was written in the past. One reason attached to this negative opinion of current British literature is that it is unable to produce a 'state of the nation' style novel, that is a book which encompasses what DH Lawrence in 1956 described as "the whole man alive."
This is ultimately a flawed ideal though, as modern society is a highly complex beast- arguably much more so than the 1950's world in which Lawrence wrote his comment. The expectation of a modern novel to be able to swallow the moral, ethical and social dilemmas faced each day by the modern citizen seems implausible and runs the risk of producing fiction which critic Nick Rennison describes as "dead on the page."
In Money, Amis seems to have disregarded these nostalgic, backward looking critics and instead of aiming for an all encompassing view of society he has set his satirical sights on a few principle social issues which were pertinent to his time. The fact that his comments on the dangers of excessive consumerism, capitalism and the potential banality and emptiness of modern life are as relevant in 2007 as they were in 1984 is testament to the sharpness of his political and social awareness.
Although the book centres around a self proclaimed 'yob' protagonist, the text is not lacking in sophistication, Martin's lush and innovative prose style and structure prove as much. His constant references to highbrow literature seem to reinforce this idea. For instance there is an underlying allegory to Shakespeare's Othello which underlies a great majority of the novel and Amis peppers the texts with the names of great writers, such as the pub named the Shakespeare, the characters Martina Twain and Fielding Goodney, as well as references to literary places such as Room 101 (from Orwell's 1984) which is also ironically, Self's hotel room.
This novel is a high speed ride through modern life as seen through the eyes of perhaps one of its worst inhabitants. It has a particular brand of satirical and ironic humour which is confronting, but also enlightening in terms of the ultimate message which the book is attempting to make.
